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'' THE SANCTUARY OF OUR FATHERS.' 



CENTENNIAL DISCOURSE, 



SABBATH EVENING, OCTOBER 15, 1865. 

IX TIIK 

LECTXJT^K ROOIVI 

<1F THE 

FIRST CONGREaATIONAL CHURCH, 

NANTUCKET. 
BY REV. S. D. HOSMER, ACTING PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



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NAXTUCIvpyr: 
lirS.SKV .t RoniNSOX, PRINTKIIS— INQlIREn .VND MIIU'.iH! onrcK. 

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" THE SANCTUARY OF OUR FATHERS." 



CENTENNIAL DISCOURSE, 



I'lj ii: ACHKr> 



SABBATH EVENING, OCTOBER 15, 1865. 



LECTUllK KOOJVl 

OF THE 

FIRST CONaREQATIONAL CHURCH, 

NANTUCKET. 
BY REV. S. 0, HOSMER, ACTING PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



PUBIilSHED BY REQUEST. 



NANTUCKET: 

IIUSSEY & ROBINSOiN, PKJJS'TfiRS-INyUJRER A.ND .MJIUIOK OTHCL', 

18G5, 



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SERMON. 



Deut. 32: 7.— Remember the days of old; consider the years of many 
generations; ask thy father and he will show thee, thy elders, and they will 
tell thee. . y 

On Tuesday, the 15th of October, l/65, this building, 
having been removed from its former site, and re-built 
where our church now stands, a business meeting of its 
proprietors was held in their new meeting-house. As 
a centennial observance occurs but once in a Ufetime, I 
have felt that we should heed the injunction of the text, 
and, leaving for an evening our customary audience- 
room in the adjoining church, within these ancient walls, 
on these plain seats, commune together of former days. 
A hundred years in the nation's annals runs back to co- 
lonial times. Our townsmen of Sherburne, as the place 
was then called, were loyal subjects of King George 
the Third. The last French and Indian War had closed 
two years before; and, by the folly of the mother coun- 
try, the year 1765 became a memorable date, on ac- 
count of the enactment of the Stamp Act, the entering 
wedge that led at last to the American Revolution. In 
our local chronicles, we find a population of over 3,000, 
and the islanders, in their pursuit of the whale-fishery, 
were daring navigators of the Atlantic, crossing the 
Arctic circle on Greenland's ice-bound shores. A dwin- 
dling remnant of the aborigines lived here, survivors of 
the epidemic that in 1763 swept off two-thirds of the 



Indians. Recall the state of the New England churches 
a hundred years ago. There had been precious fruit gath- 
ered from the Great Awakening in 1740, and Whit- 
field's fervid eloquence had stirred the minds of the 
masses. But we read of no foreign mission work of 
the church ; no organized effort for the religious welfiire 
of seamen ; no Bible or Tract Societies, no Sabbath 
Schools. 

Through the laljors of the Mayhews among the In- 
dians of Nantucket, the first church was planted on this 
soil. In 1670, Rev. John EHot visited the Vineyard, to 
assist in ordaining an Indian pastor. The teacher of the 
praying Indians of Nantucket being present, reported 
that about ninety families prayed to God. Soon after, 
we find a church of about thirty members, whereof 
twenty were men. In Mather's Magnalia, you may read 
an interesting letter, pertaining to the aflairs of these 
converted Indians, from Mr. John Gardner, whose grave- 
stone, still standing, remains the last link joining our 
times with that very early period. In 1G98, two church- 
es flourished, with three congregations beside, compris- 
ing five hundred christianized natives. Thus, before any 
rehgious societies existed among the whites, the pious 
zeal of one family had nvdde the name of Jesus precious 
to many a savage. 

It is well known that the views of the Friends gained 
a foothold early on this island, and have been extensive- 
ly held, down to the present day. From the Journal of 
Thomas Chalkley, one of their preachers who visited 
Nantnck(;t in 1G98, we extract the following: — "After 
the first meeting was over, one asked the Minister, (so 
call<Ml) whether we might have a meeting at his house. 
He said with a good will, we might. This Minister had 



sonic discourse with me, and asked what inchicod me to 
come liither, being such a young man "? I told him I 
had no other view in coming, than the good of souls, 
and tliat I could say with the Apostle, that a necessity 
•was laid upon me, and wo would be to me if I did not 
preach the Gospel. Then said he, I wish you would 
preach at my house in God's name. So next day we 
had a meeting at his house." At his next visit in 1704, 
Chalkley wi'ites : — "divers of the people called Presby- 
terians were bitter in their spirits against us, yet some 
who went under that name, were more charitable, and 
received us with tenderness ; and at some places we had 
meetings at their houses to our mutual satisflxction." 
Another journaUst of the same year, says, "the island is 
inhabited l)y a mixed people, and some among tliem call- 
ed Christian Indians ; but no settled teachers of any 
kind." 

The only historical proof I have seen, concerning the 
origin of this church, is contained in a work entitled 
"Congregational Churches of Massachusetts." It says, 
"In 1711, three churches were gathered; in October, 
the South Church in Andover ; on the 1st of Novem- 
ber the church in Truro, and not far from the same time 
the church in Nantucket, probably under the direction 
of the Mayhews. It is known that a small colony from 
Salisbury, chiefly Baptists, had been there more than fif- 
ty years, but no church of any kind was formed on the 
island, except such as Gov. Mayhew had gathered among 
the Indians, till a handful of emigrants from the Vine- 
yard, were organized, as tradition says, about 1711." This 
iiouse of worship is supposed to have been first erected 
at that period, as with some old papers years ago was 
lound a bill of that date, lor timber to build a meeting- 



house. The account achls, that the timber was obtained 
from the huge and towering white oaks, with which the 
island was once covered. Like the heroes who hved 
and died unsung of bards, unknown as if they had nev- 
er been born, the names of the founders and first pas- 
tors of this church, have perished. In June, 1732, Rev. 
Timothy White was officiating. He was a graduate of 
Harvard College in 1720, married here, and taught school 
as well as preached. It is not known how long he staid. 
He removed to Haverhill, where he died in his 64th year. 

From Chalkley's diary, in 1737, we quote an extract, 
from which we infer that our Society had a minister at 
that date. "The Priests who have money for preach- 
ing, the Lawyers, who have it for pleading, and the Phy- 
sicians, who have money for giving Receipts for health, 
are poor Trades here on this island." 

At the proprietors' meeting, in June, 1761, it was 
"voted, that we invite Mr. Mayhew to tarry, and Preach 
to us so long as he likes to stay." Tliis clergyman was 
Rev. Joseph Mayhew, probably the son of Rev. Expe- 
rience Mayhew, of Martha's Vineyard ; and, if our con- 
jecture be true, a graduate of Cambridge, in 1730, and 
tutor from 1739 to 1755. During his tarry of five years, 
this house was taken down, removed from its site beyond 
the North burying ground, to the spot our church now 
occupies, on Beacon Hill, as it was then called. The 
records indicate that work began in February, and was 
completed in October, 1765. I find a list of the pews 
in the new meeting-house, as numbered and drawn for 
by the subscribers, counting up t"orty-seven pew owners, 
and the names of Coflin, (Jnrdncr, Myrick, recur fre- 
quently. There appears the name of one female, Ruth 
Coffin. 



The church was rc-organizod at the settlement of the 
Rev. Bezaleel Shaw, (who graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1762,) on November 25th, 1767. Our church 
manual speaks of him as a good man, and a niihl preach- 
er. A chapter in a book, entitled "Letters of an Amer- 
ican Cultivator," a series of letters written between 1770 
and 1781, speaks of there being but one clergyman 
here, who presides over the instruction of a very con- 
siderable, and very respectable congregation. The wri- 
ter evidently spent much time on our island, as he de- 
votes 120 pages to Nantucket, and thirteen to the prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay. 

Mr. Shaw's ministry of thirty years, was terminated 
by his death, in 1796, and some who remember his bur- 
ial day, tell of the long procession from the church to 
the grave. It may be interesting in this connection, to 
give some extracts from the record-book of the propri- 
etors, especially as our church records prior to 1799, 
have been lost. The first entry, in a fair, legible hand, 
is dated June ye 29th, 1761. In 1766, we find it "Vot- 
ed, That the Singers shall have the seat to set in that 
was built for that Intent in the front gallery. Voted, 
That we will Chuse Mr. Barrett to tune the Psalm for 
the Congregation." Was it Sternhold and Hopkins' 
metrical version of the Psalms of David they used ? and 
oh for some one to tell the tunes they sang. Perhaps 
Old Hundred, or Northfield, or those ancient fugue har- 
monies, part roUing in on part, whose performance re- 
quires more volume of sound than our modern quartette 
choirs afford. But to read again those time-stained 
leaves: "Voted that Peleg Gardner is chose to take 
care of the boys in the gallery, and to keep them in good 
order, and to invite any strangers below that want a seat,. 



8 

wlien the gallery is full." In 1787 a committee was 
raised "to wait on Dr. Bartlett, and see on what condi- 
tions he will let his organ come into this meeting-house," 
which may have been an instrument of discord among 
the practitioners of music, as at the next meeting I find 
this entry: "Voted, that the singers who have carried 
on the singing be dismissed according to their request, 
and receive the thanks of the Society." Three years 
later, when the Society of Friends were removing their 
house of worship, they were invited "to make use of this 
house for their publick meetings on each Sabbath Day, 
at any time from Eleven o'clock in the morning untill 
Four o'clock in the afternoon, and on all other days in 
the week, at any time, and at all times of the day, so 
long as they may need it." In May, 1792, eleven men 
were constituted a committee regulating the funerals of 
persons belonging to this Society. We find that a bell 
had been purchased, and a tower had been erected at 
the south end of the house, in the summer of 1795. 

After Mr. Shaw's decease. Rev. David Leonard sup- 
plied the pulpit nearly a year. Rev. James Gurney was 
installed in 1799, for the term of five years; then was 
settled for life; yet was dismissed in 1819. The organ- 
ization of the first Methodist church about the time of 
his installation, and the establishment of the present 
Unitarian Society in 1809, diminished alike the resour- 
ces and numbers of this church. At one time it count- 
ed only three male members. God, however, remem- 
bered the little flock. The Spirit was poured out, con- 
versions multiplied, and the church grew in graces and 
influence. Mr. Gurney taught school, and I have con- 
versed with several persons who were his pupils. He 
is described as a fine singer as well as a vigorous preach- 





er. Three of his (liscomscs were published; a nuisoiiic 
a(Ulrcss on St. John's ihiy, the funeral sermon of Miss 
Lydia Perry, and also of Miss Sarah Whitney. He 
removed to Freetown, and died in 1839. Rev. Abner 
Morse succeeding him, preached three years. He died 
last May. Next tbllow, Rev. Stephen Bailey, Nathaniel 
Cobb, Stephen Mason, during whose pastorate the new 
church was built in 1834. The ministerial list contin- 
ues: Rev. William J. Breed, George C. Partridge, J. S. 
C. Abbot, Charles Rich, George Thacher, Benjamin 
Judkins, Joseph E. Swallow, H. E. Dwight, Isaac C. 
White, ending with the present incumbent. 

Let us suppose ourselves worshippers here seventy 
years ago. You enter through a porch w^ith a front and 
two side doors opening outwards. As you step within the 
church through a double-leaved door, right opposite ap- 
pears the high pulpit, behind whose closed doors and 
solid walls the preacher, as he sits, is hardly seen from 
below. For a canopy, see the heavy sounding-board 
hung from the roof just over the speaker. Beneath, on 
each side of the desk, sat the deacons, their hats hung 
on knobs on the pulpit front. A door under the south 
gallery opens into tlie tower, just built to receive the 
first bell that pealed forth its mellow call over these 
shores and waters. On three sides were galleries ; that 
on the front the singers' place; in the north and south 
galleries sat strangers and the boys over whom tithing 
men did police duty with long black-tipped staves to 
rap the unruly into propriety; in the farthest corner was 
the negroes' pew, three of whom are recorded as church 
members. At the entrance door a broad aisle, with two 
short courts passing off midway its length to pews 
otherwise inaccessible, leads to the pulpit; and to right 



10 

and left diverge nurrower alleys, wliich go round the 
house between its wall tier and central slips. The pews 
are those old-fashioned square conipartnielits to accom- 
modate a dozen or more, uncushioned, no crickets, nor 
elbow supports. People did not attend meeting to loll 
lazily, and a sleeper would have offended against the 
congregation as much as against the preacher. The 
proprietors were at no expense for lamps, though oil at 
Nantucket was easily obtained, as evening services were 
unknown; and as for fuel in winter, who ever heard of 
an old church with any fire, save the flame of devotion, 
to warm the worshippers. The men buttoned up their 
overcoats; while our grandmothers carried each a little 
foot-stove filled, the last thing before going to church, 
with hot embers from the great fire-place at home. The 
congregation devoutly stood through what was truly the 
long prayer, lifting up their seats which turned on hinges, 
and at the close of the prayer letting them down with 
a crash startling to delicate nerves, if there were any in 
those days. I presume the sermons of the good divine 
may generally have overrun the half hour of the modern 
preacher; certainly if, as elsewhere, tenthly and even 
twelfthly marked the divisions of the discourse. So 
worshipped the godly of a former generation. 

What varied scenes during these hundred years have 
transpired under this roof ^* The hopes and sorrows of 
individuals, families, and the community here have ex- 
pressed themselves in fitting devotion. Our house of 
prayer has been found a Bethel to the burdened; a 
Bethlehem of praise and thank-ofiering to the joyful 
soul. Days of public calamity, and thanksgiving occa- 



*We are told that this building served for a Ct)urt House at the trial of the In- 
dian, Quibliy. He was hung for the crime of murder, in 1769. This is the last 
execution that has taken place ou the island. 



n 

sions have alike summoned hither the congregation. 
Some now Hving, rememl)er funeral services in Wasli- 
ington's memory, when the pulpit draped in bkck, and 
the singing a selected diroo, formed part of the service. 
Will any hoary liead in lOoO, think you, tell of the 
mournful drapery, the crowded solemn assemblage in 
God's house, at the noon-day hour of President Lincoln's 
funeral on the sad 19th of April, 1865 1 From hence 
the dead have been borne to man's last house, the grave; 
here fervent prayer has been put up for friends far away 
on the restless sea; children have been dedicated in 
baptism; the Holy Sacrament has strengthened saints, 
who now look on the full glory of the Lamb. To one 
thoughtful of the past, yonder tablet,* with its antique 
figures, suggests much to be pondered. It becomes the 
fitting time-piece in this venerable edifice, on whose 
dial we read to-night more than the fleeting hours, the 
flight of a century. When this building ceased to be 
the church, I recognize a providence in the fact, that it 
did not, like old sanctuaries in other parts, pass to some 
secular use. These walls still echo to prayer and chris- 
tian instructions, and see every Sabbath, what would have 
been a marvel in the .olden time, the Sunday school. 
Our school commenced in December, 1810; maj'^ it at- 
tain to a centennial by God's favor. Precious revival 
seasons have consecrated this spot as the birth-place of 
souls. This and that man was born into Zion here. 
But two years ago, our Union prayer meetings drew in 
a goodly number to seek their own or others' conversion. 
You remember in the revival of 1842, the throngs that 
more than filled these seats. Our Young People's meet- 



* A tablet, bearing the date 1765, in old style figures, as long as our oldest wor- 
shippers remember, liiis hung in front of the gallery. 



12 

ing, the result of tlie work of grace in 1858, has often 
crowded the upper room, and the Friday evening gath- 
ering of the church, make it to us Hke the Holy of Ho- 
lies in the temple. May this house continue a religious 
shrine, as long as its frame-work of solid oak lasts. 
Heaven grant it escape from the devouring flame; let 
it be spared the demolition that usually removes the an- 
cient dwellings of the forefathers ; and may coming 
generations ascend the hill of Zion to this house of 
prayer and praise. 

Our retrospect to-night may suggest a glance at the 
present wants of this church. Brethren and sisters; 
where are we weak in Christian efficiency 1 Let us 
find out Jerusalem's breaches, and in that place strength- 
en her ramparts. Numerically, we are a large church, 
by no means deficient in pecuniary abihty ; no heavy 
debt upon us, — 'tis a pity the small debt were not wip- 
ed out;— we hold an influential station in society; we 
have a neat, comnKjdious sanctuary, upon the pleasant- 
est site for a church, in town. What lack we then 1 
Such a personal consecration, as shall make all our 
members dihgent workers in behalf of Christ and 
the church. Are we studying to know and attempt 
whatever will render this covenanted band a moulding, 
purifying power among the people, that the clear wit- 
ness of this church may enlighten many families I We 
ought to scatter religious papers and tracts among the 
neglecters of the sanctuary, and persuade them to hal- 
low the Sabbath by regular attendance on the means of 
grace. We should ascertain that all the children of our 
parish attend constantly the Sabbath School, and then 
gather in outcasts to train for God. We need to march 
into line with other churches of our faith and order, to 



<lo our full sliiir(3 in our country's complete clirisiianizri- 
tiou, and (he work of the world's conversion. To that 
end we must cultivate a more beneficent spirit, freely 
giving, for we liave freely received. Oh, my comjjan- 
ions in Jesus ! consecrated friends ! we have a glorious 
work to do. Let not our indolence shame our pedigree 
as a church. 

A special want now is the addition to our number, of 
active men. From our insular position, the young men 
must seek their fortunes in the larger marts of trade. 
Still there are those in middle life, honored citizens, our 
fellow-worshippers, whom we could wash to see profes- 
sors of religion. We need their co-operation in the 
church, as well as in the parish. An addition of a doz- 
en energetic, whole-souled men, would treble the power 
of the church. In God's battle with sin, we are the 
troops long under fire, that need to be reinforced from 
the reserve corps, for a final charge on the enemy's 
works, and a brilliant victory. In other days, this church 
has had such accessions. Some of you, I know, recall 
the first Sabbath in March, 1842, when nineteen good 
men and true, joined themselves to the Lord, a number 
of whom still remain with us. No longer since than 
July, 1858, ten males, of all ages, professed their faith 
in Christ. God speed the return of those Pentecostal 
scenes. 

When a regiment sends on the report of its present 
force, honorable mention is made of those whom a sol- 
dier's death has mustered out of service. The memory 
of gallant ofticers and brave privates, fallen in freedom's 
cause, their comrades cherish as an heritage of honor, 
bought with blood, and to be kept pure and shining, if 
it must be so, even with the lives of those who fill the 



14 

places of the dead. Thus our thoughts recall those de- 
parted in the faith from this band of Christ's sacrament- 
al army. For five generations, the ark of the Lord, 
abiding in this tabernacle, has received the adoration of 
heart-worshippers. I enter this time-honored structure ; 
I think how the feet of the ancients have paced its 
aisles ; and my mind, lost to present affairs, lives in the 
former century. I feel as when I stand by the lone 
grave-stone on the top of the knoll, that identifies the 
spot of the oldest burial ground on this island, and the 
men of other days pass as actors over the field of men- 
tal vision. Those friends of God labored, prayed, fasted, 
while these oaken beams that look on us, witnessed their 
worship. Some of you, members now in this church, 
are the children or grand-children of those godly ones; 
perhaps most of you claim kinship or affinity through 
marriage with your old-time predecessors in God's holy 
covenant. Their earthly work is done; the preacher of 
nearly thirty years, and his congregation, sleep side by 
«ide in yonder church-yard. Your fathers, where are 
they ; and prophets, do they live forever 1 

Eight hundred and fifty-one names are recorded as 
having been connected with this church. Probably in 
.all, since 1711, nine hundred, or over. There now be- 
long fifty-one males, two hundred twenty-nine females; 
two hundred eighty in all ; of whom seventy-five reside 
off the island. Wordsworth has a poem of tender pa- 
thos, "We are seven," founded on the answer of a child 
to the question how many brothers and sisters it had. 
Some were far away, some dead ; but the child's unhes- 
itating repeated answer, counted them all still members 
of the home, still unforgotten at the hearth-stone. We 
claim all who have ever been true in church-fellow- 



15 

shij) here. Tliough generations liave passed since their 
souls went u[) on high, we rcjip the blessing of their la- 
bors ; we call them our elder brethren and sisters in the 
Lord. Feel you not a solemn awe from the considera- 
tion that much the larger part of our membership have 
rested from the labors of the church militant, and en- 
tered into the glory of the church triumphant. Disci- 
ples of Jesus, yet toiling in the llesh, they call to us 
from the heavenly shore. Love; labor; live for Christ. 
Verily ice are compassed about with a great cloud of 
witnesses. 

Our predecessors built for God's honor, this temple, 
made with hands. Moreover, in organizing the church, 
sustaining the preached word, and institutions of relig- 
ion, they were rearing a spiritual house, sacred to the- 
Lord. In this latter work we too are church-builders; 
w^e have a part to act with those before us, in bringing 
toward completion this house of souls, begun on the 
foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
himself being the chief corner stone. For more than 
six hundred years the Cathedral of Cologne has been in- 
process of erection ; and in our time, artisans engaged 
in filling a gorgeously painted rose window, in raising 
higher, day by day, here a clustered airy shaft, and there 
curving to its key-stone the lofty, soaring, pointed arch ; 
in beautifying with rare marbles and precious stones 
some chapel shrine ; in richly adorning with purple vel- 
vet, heavily bordered with a fringe of gold, a venerated 
altar; tliis lavish expenditure of industry, skill and treas- 
ure, evince the purpose to finish the splendid cathedral 
in peerless perfection. 

More truly for the divine glory than beautiful min- 
ster, Jehovah accounts u company of saints, established. 



16 

in the truth, and built up in mutual love; for these are 
the temple of the living God. Toward the adornment 
and finished symmetry of such a spiritual edifice, may 
we, Christian brother and sister, youthful alike with aged 
members of this church, contribute. For the house to 
be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical 
of fame and of glory throughout all countries. Let us pre- 
pare, like good David, abundantly. Any attainment in 
personal piety above the common level, any Christian 
service prompted by pure love to the Lord, while en- 
nobling the saint, makes him as a poHshed stone, strong 
and comely in the compacted edifice ; adding to the ho- 
liness and influence of the church in its community. 
By the precious memories of the past, by the pressing 
duties of the present time, may this covenanted compa- 
ny of Jesus' disciples act faithfully their part for God 
and man. Then shall Jehovah's promise by Isaiah, his 
prophet, come to pass concerning our Zion ; Behold, I 
will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy founda- 
tions with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of 
agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders 
of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught 
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy chil- 
dren. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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